Adrian Devlin’s July 18 letter ‘‘Green power costs us’’ is an instructive example of the unfettered greed that has wrought such devastating effects on the environment.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Using Mr Devlin’s logic, the only consideration to be taken into account in the choice of power technologies is cost. Such a perspective admits of no responsibility for future generations and the environment they will inherit. He is willing to ransom the health of both for a short-term cost saving.
Moreover, the implication in his argument that fossil-fuel energies, such as ‘‘cheap’’ coal, are not supported by the taxpayer is demonstrably false. The Australian Conservation Foundation documents fossil-fuel subsidies of nearly $8 billion per annum.
The ‘‘global warming elites and green carpetbaggers’’ he criticises seem like amateurs compared with the mining lobby, which is much more effective at extracting concessions from the state.
The issue, therefore, isn’t one of a free fossil-fuel market competing against a regulated, subsidised renewable market. It is about ensuring taxpayer dollars go to supporting the energies which enable us to most efficiently and successfully meet the challenge of climate change.
Brett Heino, Dapto
Tony Abbott – no surprises, no changes to GST, no cuts to health and education – his pre-election promises were the exact opposite to his true intentions.
The reality is Abbott’s plan to force the states to fund health and education by cutting $80 billion funding has left a hole in state treasurers’ forward budget estimations – to the extent that a 5 per cent rise in the GST appears to be the only avenue open to balance the books.
Once again the Coalition government has betrayed the people and left the states to deal with dysfunctional overcrowded hospitals and deteriorating education systems. The Coalition’s blase contempt for Australians is overwhelming. Especially when it is considered that the sole reason for dumping its obligations to health and education is to channel the $80billion saved towards balancing the budget.
John Macleod, Berry
Adrian Devlin (Your Say, July 21) assumes rather a lot in his latest dispatch on the vexed question of asylum seekers.
Considering the reluctance, indeed the refusal, of the Abbott government to divulge any information regarding the fate and the number of asylum seekers who have arrived under the so-called ‘‘sovereign borders’’ policy, it is drawing rather a long bow to assume these people have been treated well and there have been no deaths at sea.
Certainly many reports, regardless of government attempts to silence the whistleblowers, would suggest otherwise. The latest tiny boat, adrift hundreds of miles off the coast of WA, and the secrecy surrounding its fate and that of its occupants is a case in point.
Many migrant policies under the Rudd/Gillard administration could and should have been done better but at least we, the public, were aware of the consequences of government policy and able to make informed assessments.
Denise Meredith, Kanahooka
I don’t think the kids at Kanahooka High should be complaining. Friends of mine at a private girls’ school in Sydney in the 1960s and 1970s were forced to endure underwear inspections to make sure they were wearing the regulation white knickers. Imagine that happening today!
Chris Dodds, Towradgi
